By PAUL GOTHAM
Fourteen players have topped the single-game 40-point plateau this season. Only Jack Gibbs has repeated that feat. Davidson’s junior guard garnered National Player of the Week honors and the Atlantic 10 Conference award for the second straight week when he averaged 37 points and seven assists in two contests.
The Westerville, Ohio native scored 31 points and handed out six assists in a loss at Dayton last Tuesday. He followed that with a career-high 43 points in an 86-74 win over the UMass Minutemen.
“He just has great command of the game,” UMass head coach Derek Kellogg said during the Atlantic 10’s weekly tele-conference. “His ability to change speed and change direction and just know what’s going on out there is something that’s really hard to teach. I think you kinda have it or you don’t. He has it.”
It was the third time this season Gibbs netted 40 or more points in a game. The last player to accomplish that at the Division I level was Jimmer Fredette. The NBA first round draft pick topped 40 or more in four contests during the 2010-11 season at BYU capping it off with a 52-point game against New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Gibbs has at least 14 more games this season to equal Fredette. Not that he’s thinking about it.
“He’s emerged as a leader instead of a look-at-me kind of a player,” Davidson head coach Bob McKillop commented. “You come out of the high school ranks and there’s such a temptation be that. He has fit incredibly well into our system, understanding what his role is. Now emerging as leader in that role.”
Gibbs leads the Atlantic 10 and is third in the nation scoring 25.7 points a game. He trails only Howard’s James Daniel (28.5) and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield (26.1). He also leads the A-10 and is top 50 in the country with 5.3 assists.
“The big thing has been the emotional aspect of his ability to lead the team,” McKillop added. “He’s a wonderful, wonderful kid and has a great sense of humility about him. To see him put his team on the pedestal rather than himself is very, very pleasing to me.”
The Wildcats (11-5/3-2) take on the Saint Louis Billikens (6-11/1-4), Wednesday night.
“He’s got great vision on the floor,” Saint Louis head coach Jim Crews noted. “He plays off his teammates. His teammates play off him. He understands that if someone crowds him to give it up to someone else for a bucket. When they don’t (crowd him), he’s putting it in at a regular rate.”
In the win over UMass, Gibbs became the 48th player in Davidson history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He also grabbed eight rebounds and handed out eight assists in the contest.
For the year, Gibbs, who has been named A-10 Player of the Week five time this season, has hit 47.1 percent (128 for 272) from the floor including 37.8 percent from behind the arc (45 for 119).
“He’s really fun to watch, not so much when you’re preparing to play them,” Kellogg said. “He has one of the better, natural feels for the game. He can really shoot which separates him.”
Davidson travels to Richmond on Saturday. The Spiders were the last team to hold Gibbs under double digits – January 17th of last season.
“You just have to respect that shooting so much,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney stated. “His confidence, his shooting and his overall touch for the game is tremendous.
“His athleticism is very good, but it’s that much greater because of his shooting. You have to be so close to him and aware of him and worry about his shooting that makes the passes for him a little bit easier to see and also makes him driving to the basket a little bit easier.”
Davidson and Saint Louis tip off Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Fox Sports Midwest.
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